| Geragos verbally spars with second FBI expert November 12, 2003 1:27 p.m., PST: Scott Peterson's defense lawyer verbally sparred with a second FBI scientist who testified that the bureau's DNA testing is sound. Los Angeles attorney Mark Geragos continued late this morning to suggest that the bureau's technique can produce misleading results and relies on a flawed database, echoing a defense expert who testified last week. But Bruce Budowle, a senior scientist from the FBI's laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, insisted the testing is generally accepted in the scientific community. Testing showed that a hair found in pliers in Scott Peterson's boat was not his but could have come from his wife, another FBI expert testified two weeks ago in Peterson's ongoing preliminary hearing. He is charged with murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Authorities are trying to show that Scott Peterson used his 14-foot aluminum fishing boat to transport his wife's body after slaying her Dec. 23 or 24. Geragos tried to get Budowle to acknowledge that there has been a "sea change" in DNA testing since the FBI's database was assembled in 1994. But the scientist was unyielding, asserting that technology improvements have kept pace with discoveries. "It's not as if I'm etching in stone with a chisel," Budowle said. The hair was tested using samples of its mitochondrial DNA, which is much less reliable than nuclear DNA not available from the hair. Mitochondrial DNA is passed down from a subject's mother and can't match a known sample, but can prove that a sample of unknown origin did not come from most people. HOME INDEX LACI PRELIMINARY HEARING ALIBI-WITNESS LIST EVIDENCE-NEWS SCOTT AMBER AUTOPSY INDEX WIRETAPS INCONSISTANT STATEMENTS |
| LACI & CONNER May the Truth Be Told |
| PRELIMINARY HEARING - DAY 7 Questioning Bruce Budowle - FBI |
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